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Thursday, October 13, 2016

I know it’s fashionable for union employees to bash management for
not giving them enough in their paycheck. I was as guilty as anyone else.

But you have to look at the total package.

The AARP Supplemental and Personal Health Plan that the BJ pays the
entire premium for those who won the healthcare lawsuit against the Beacon (45
printers and 5 Guild retirees, including me) issued the premium costs to BJ
management for 2017:

$1,992.36

Apiece for those of us still alive. If all 50 were alive, that
would come to

$99,618

But some of the lawsuit winners have since passed away. But even
at, say, $90K, that’s a big chunk of change for the BJ.

That's just for supplemental coverage. Medicare provides the 80% first whack at your bills, costing you about $1,300 a year. AARP Supplemental attacks most of the other 20%.

In my case, after winning the lawsuit against the BJ, with $2 prescription co-pay for every prescription (including those that run $300+ for 30 days), including the Medicare Part B premium my total out-of-pocket medical costs are about $2,000 a year. A bargain in today's soaring medical costs.

During Guild negotiations with the BJ when I was at Ol’ Blue Walls,
I always sided on the side of benefits vs. expansive pay raises, because
tomorrow’s dollars are always more valuable than today’s dollars.

Here’s the proof.

Thank you, BJ, for making it possible for us to live out our lives
without plunging into poverty over medical costs. Also, thank you, Chandra Law
Firm in Cleveland, for winning the healthcare lawsuit for us. And, thank you,
the late Dave White, for starting this process on a beach in Florida when you
got pissed off because the BJ reneged on its promise to you.